Woodcock
A surname that began as a nickname or place-name, originally tied to the woodcock bird or to someone thought birdlike or simple-minded.
The #5,151 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,444 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained from the bird name woodcock, from Old English wudu 'wood' + cocc, a term that came to denote the woodcock. In medieval English, the word could also be used as a nickname for a simpleton, so the surname may sometimes have arisen from that sense rather than directly from the bird. Some early surname collections also connect Woodcock with place-names in Devon and elsewhere, so a locational origin is possible in a few cases.
History
The name appears early in English records and was well established by the late medieval period. It spread as a hereditary surname in England and later in the wider English-speaking world. Because the word could function both as a bird-name and as a mild term of reproach, different families may have independent origins.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname writers noted that Woodcock could be used as a teasing word for a simpleton, not just as a bird name.
From the historical record
“mound. WOODCOCK (Eng.) a nickname from the fowl; at one time a common term for a simple- ton [M.E. wod(e)cok, O.E. wuducocc] WOODCRAFT ] (Eng.) Dweller at the WooD- WOODCROFT J Cr6ft[O.E. TOMi/«, awood -f- croft, a small field] WOODD = Wood, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)